Back in April, I received an email from a publicity intern at SparkPoint Studio. The email explained that she’d seen my book review for ASAP by Axie Oh and wanted to know if I’d be interested in an ARC of Asking for a Friend by Kara H.L. Chen.
While I can’t remember the exact thought that first crossed my mind, I jumped pretty quickly to “Absolutely, and when can I start reading it?”
I don’t get a ton of people in my inbox offering to send me ARCs, so when the opportunity showed up, I wanted to jump on it immediately. And I have to say, I was not disappointed. This is a delightful little book that really is the perfect summer read. I’ve explained a lot more reasons to pick it up below, but I just wanted to say another thank you to SparkPoint Studio and Quill Tree Books for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
And to Kara H.L. Chen, I hope this book launch is everything you dreamed and more. You wrote a beautiful book, and I know that it will find its way to every reader who needs it. *heart hands*
The Review
When people talk about reading to understand other people and other lives, this is the kind of book I think of: a story that captures the complexities of living a life that’s balancing on the edge of two completely different cultures.
I will never fully be able to understand the Taiwanese American experience. But it’s through books like this that I can begin to learn that they go through things I cannot fathom. Things that don’t make sense to me because I have never and will never experience them. But for some people—for these characters—this is real and this is happening.
This is what life looks like, feels like, and what life expects them to be.
At it’s core, this is a story about family, love, and the choices we make, both for ourselves and for others.
It made me giggle and kick my feet, but it also made me cry. I found myself highlighting paragraphs full of wisdom and resonance that I could ponder forever. It made me think more deeply about how lucky I am to have parents who have always loved and supported my dreams, never once hesitating to ask me what I want for my life.
This book made me feel things in a way that was both painful and cathartic all at once . . . and I think that sometimes those are the best kind of stories.
I received an ARC from Quill Tree Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Cancer, cursing, death of a parent (mentioned) grief, LGBT themes (there are LGBT couples mentioned briefly, and some of the protagonist’s friends are in same-sex relationships), racism, sexual content, and xenophobia.
What I Loved
Juliana and Garrett’s relationship. This is the best kind of grumpy x sunshine pairing. I haven’t read a ton of books with that trope, but this one wins for me. Juliana is such a hopeless romantic, and Garrett is . . . well, he’s not so quick to jump into romanticizing the idea of love. They really couldn’t be more different, and it’s those differences that make their journey so beautiful.
There’s also, like, really good banter. So, that’s also a huge bonus.
Garrett. Everything about this boy was literally perfect, and I shall not be accepting criticism. He’s complicated. There’ s so much more to him than just the brooding, angsty sad boy mask. I literally have no critiques.
The intricate relationship between Juliana and her mother. As someone who has a close relationship with my own mother, I didn’t understand everything about their relationship. They’re very different from the mother/daughter relationships I’ve seen and experienced, and then there’s the added cultural differences. But . . . I could sympathize at the beginning. I could watch as Juliana tried to fix everything that was broken in her family and know that things would probably come crumbling down. I could listen to their conversations and begin to experience their relationship through Juliana’s eyes.
I don’t want to spoil anything, but trust me when I say that this particular relationship really made the book.
The way that grief was explored and not just casually thrown in for “depth.” I read a lot of novels about grief, and I’m always worried about how it’ll be portrayed. But Chen did an incredible job. No, grief isn’t the main point of this novel. It’s not even the primary conflict. But it’s present. It’s there. It lingers in the cracks of Juliana’s story because that’s what grief does. It lays dormant in certain seasons before coming out and wreaking havoc on our lives. The destruction of grief and the different ways people handle it (or don’t handle it) are depicted in both an honest and delicate way that will leave you feeling like you’re right there with the characters in their darkest moments.
What I Didn’t Love
The LGBT themes. This didn’t bother me that much—mostly because it wasn’t a focal point of the story—but it was something that I didn’t love.
Favorite Quotes
These are from an ARC, so quotes are subject to change in the final, published version.
“I loved seeing little windows into the profound connections that can happen between two people, even if the ending is bittersweet.”
“They find out that love is not as strong as they thought. Like everything else, it can be broken.”
“Until I destroyed us, I thought these daydreams might be enough.”
Listen to my Asking for a Friend playlist
My Rating
About the Book
This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao.
Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:
1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.
2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.
When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her noncomfortmist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.
About the Author
Kara H.L. Chen grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, where she once had to shovel snow off her car with a plastic trashcan. She now lives on the West Coast with her husband and daughters, and is learning how to use an Instapot. She has undergraduate degrees in English and economics, a J.D., and a MFA in fiction. She has used her economics degree exactly once, when she tried to make a joke about marginal costs and marginal returns. It did not go well.
Let’s Talk!
Have I convinced you to add Asking for a Friend to your TBR? What’s your favorite novel with an Asian lead? Do you like novels with complicated family relationships? What are you reading this summer? Let’s chat all things summer books in the comments below!
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The Long Voyage 
[…] Review: At it’s core, this is a story about family, love, and the choices we make, both for ourselves and for others. This book made me feel things in a way that was both painful and cathartic all at once . . . and I think that sometimes those are the best kind of stories. If you want my full review, check out this post right here. […]
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